Media reports suggest that Britain, Sweden, and Germany have withdrawn their police officers from the UN mission in South Sudan without consultations.

The Reuters news agency published contents of a leaked memo from the UN Peacekeeping Chief, Herve Ladsous, to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon.

It says the officers left when the SPLA and the SPLA-IO clashed in Juba about two weeks ago.

“The departure of police officers has affected the operational capability of the mission at headquarters level and has dealt a serious blow to the morale of its peacekeepers,” said the memo, which is used by officials to keep Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon informed.

The UN says the countries that withdrew their officers, including Jordan, would be banned from returning to serve in South Sudan under the mission once the situation becomes normal.

According to the Telegraph, there are reports that the leaked internal memo quoted UN officials questioning if Britain is worthy of being a veto-power on the Security Council as a result of the withdrawal. The UN’s peacekeeping spokesman, Nick Birnback, dismissed the claims.

This comes at a time the IGAD and the African Union are proposing more forces under a new mandate of UNMISS to intervene and maintain peace in case both parties clash.

According to the New York Times, 12 peacekeepers form the four countries, including Jordan, have already been banned from returning to South Sudan.

However, speaking to British Metro news website, Britain Spokesman, Farhan Haq, said he was not aware of any sort of authentic memo.

It also reports that the Germany also confirmed that it had evacuated seven police serving with the UNMISS, and said the UN had been notified orally and in writing beforehand.

The British Metro website also reports the Swedish mission as saying it had repatriated three officers for medical reasons and that 15 officers remain in South Sudan.

It quotes the Swedish mission reassuring that “Sweden has not, and will not, withdraw the police support to the UNMISS mission”.

Efforts by Eye Radio to contact UNMISS in Juba for comment have been unsuccessful.